Not every musician among the nearly 100 who will perform at this year’s La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest is a friend of music director and violinist Cho-Liang “Jimmy” Lin, who during a stellar, three-decade-plus career has performed with virtually every major orchestra and chamber music festival in the world.

But many of them are, and virtually all have some relationship to him.

“There’s an extra element of friendship going on in chamber music,” Lin said. “It’s more personal. It’s one on one.”

It’s not like performing as soloist with an orchestra, where you can work around any differences with the conductor.

“In chamber music, you really have to be in sync with your colleagues,” he said. “There has to be a certain camaraderie, a certain congenial quality. Otherwise things don’t work.”

With the annual festival’s unofficial opening Wednesday (a free concert at La Jolla Cove) and official opening Friday (at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Sherwood Auditorium), here’s a look at some of SummerFest’s core musicians and their connections with Lin.

David Chan

violin

A student of Lin’s teacher, Dorothy DeLay, at Juilliard, he was later a medalist at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, where Lin was a judge. Chan is now concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

“I first heard about his talents through the DeLay studio grapevine; news travels fast when you have a hotshot on the scene.”

Cynthia Phelps

viola

Phelps was studying at USC and present at a party Lin attended after making his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. She is now principal viola of the New York Philharmonic.

“I remember I saw this stunningly beautiful girl and I kind of fell in love with her. Of course she had a boyfriend and said, ‘No, no, no, Jimmy. Don’t worry about this, it’s not going to work.’ But then I realized she’s a fantastic violist.”